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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29828970">Teeth</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/etanunu/pseuds/etanunu'>etanunu</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Dimension 20 Alphabet 2021 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dimension 20 (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>D20 Alphabet Letter I, Dimension 20 Alphabet, Gen, Introspection, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, ptsd but not like angst</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 08:08:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>489</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29828970</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/etanunu/pseuds/etanunu</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Today, Riz looks at his reflection while brushing his teeth. He focuses only on his lips, his wide-open mouth, the movement of his toothbrush. His fangs are whiter than the rest of his coffee-stained teeth.</p>
<p>-----------</p>
<p>For the D20 Alphabet Event; Letter I</p>
<p>I promise it's not angsty.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Pok Gukgak &amp; Riz Gukgak, Riz Gukgak &amp; Sklonda Gukgak, The Bad Kids &amp; Riz Gukgak</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Dimension 20 Alphabet 2021 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2192853</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Dimension 20 Alphabet 2021</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Teeth</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For the D20 Alphabet Event; Letter I</p>
<p>I'm a little late to the event but I finally caught up with my own life to participate! Kicking things off with our favorite little goblin.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Today, Riz looks at his reflection while brushing his teeth. He focuses only on his lips, his wide-open mouth, the movement of his toothbrush. His fangs are whiter than the rest of his coffee-stained teeth. His tongue has a film of yellow on it. A stain left from the cold coffee he sipped on as soon as he woke up. He’d left it balanced on his bedpost the night before as he fell asleep to Fantasy Google searches about words that shouldn’t be said, names that are dangerous to speak, entities that are powerful enough to hear their dead name—not when it’s said on the sea by a bunch of teenagers on a journey against dreams.</p>
<p>He fell asleep nauseous. Both from the coffee and the sleeping spell he drank hoping not to dream. He dreamt but it wasn’t a nightmare. In his dreams he talked to his dad. They played catch while Riz asked his dad about names. His dad tells them about their name, about the Gukgaks. The three badasses that are Pok, Riz, and Sklonda Gukgak but also the Gukgaks before them. The ones who moved to Elmsville. They were standing on a mountain. It was green like him. It didn’t feel like a good dream or a bad dream except that his dad was there. When he woke up, we wondered if Cassandra gave him a gift or if it was someone else.</p>
<p>When he scrubs away the film of coffee on the center of his tongue, he gags a little. If he hadn’t, he might not notice that mint on coffee is gross.</p>
<p>He unfocuses his gaze when he rinses and spits into the sink. He counts to 3 and then looks. He is Riz Gukgak. The reflection is not alive. He doesn’t lie anymore—rather, he tries not to lie anymore. He is Riz Gukgak. He doesn’t have a romance partner, but he is not alone. He can look at his reflection in the eyes without running away. At least today, at least right now, at least when he knows his mom is studying in the other room and Fabian is waiting downstairs to hang out with Fig and Gorgug and Zelda today.</p>
<p>He takes a deep breath and turns his back to the mirror. His gun is resting ready on his hip. He doesn’t need to fear turning his back on his reflection, on himself. He leaves the restroom.</p>
<p>“Mom,” he cries out, checking his crystal. Fabian texted him to tell him he better not be running late because Riz is making himself coffee. “I’m heading out!”</p>
<p>“Okay, sweetie,” Sklonda calls back, in a daze. “Have fun.”</p>
<p>Riz laughs and feels the thoughts that never stop running in his head settle to the back of his mind. This morning he looked at his reflection, last night he had a nice dream, and now he’s going to have fun with his friends.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hope you like this little drabble. I'll be posting more here and on my tumblr! If I'm not hitting a letter here on Ao3, I probably wrote a headcanon for that day on my tumblr! Feel free to find me there for fic requests, headcanons, or just to chat.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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